The quality of the short and mid-length movies that have been coming out of Asia during the last few years is astonishing on occasion, with a number of filmmakers presenting works that are frequently much better than the features (I will comment on that on a later time). Taiwanese Joe Hsieh is definitely one of those, with his excellent noir/thriller/horror “Night Bus”.
Night Bus is screening at Taiwan Film Festival
The story begins during a night as we watch a monkey feeding a pommegranate to her child, and inside a house somewhere close by, a couple is hugging, although the only thing we see is their shadows. The next scene brings us to the local bus station, where a number of people are taking the last night bus, after a few of them have visited the bathrooms there. Two miners, a couple where the woman is pregnant, a young man by himself, and a rather rich old lady who shows her annoying nature from the beginning. Just after the bus has begun, however, the old lady, who has been sleeping, finds her pearl necklace is missing, and demands for the bus to stop. The driver agrees, and soon they find the necklace in the pockets of the lone young man, who protests, though, his innocence. Nevertheless, the rest of the men soon rough and tie him up, with the ride continuing after that. The “happenings”, however, do not stop there, as a bit later on, the bus crashes on the monkeys from the initial scene, with the mother getting killed. During the whole thing, the lone man escapes and the rest go to find him by the beach.
In just less than 20 minutes, Joe Hsieh manages to create a rather intriguing story, that begins as a mystery-noirish one, but eventually includes elements of crime, revenge, forbidden love, brutal violence and a femme fatale that seems to share some traits with the Greek Medusa. The way the story unfolds from something that seem simple, to an intricate web of deception, lies and violence highlights the great direction and script-writing here, with Hsieh taking advantage of every frame, every moment of his film to present in the most eloquent and captivating fashion. The ending, which also seems to answer the question of which is the most dangerous animal in nature, cements this prowess in the best way, closing the short rather impressively.
Lastly, the comments about human nature, and how quick people are in judging others and administering punishment, as much as how easy a mob can be created add even more depth to the movie, along with a brief comment about domestic violence.
The dark and greyish coloring fits the general aesthetics nicely, while the details of the background and the immovable objects, as the suitcase in the bus are quite intricate. The drawing of the characters follows an artistic approach, with the majority of them being lean and tall, in a style that reminds of Modigliani, while their frequent depiction from the side is definitely interesting. The movement is a bit unusual, as it seems to linger between the animation and the stop motion, but also works well for the general aesthetics here.
“Night Bus” is an excellent short, that makes the most of its brief duration to present a story that is quite entertaining and contextually rich, as much as it artful.
